Rye High School is a public high school in

Rye, New York Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...

. Rye High School is the only high school in the Rye City School District. It shares a building with Rye Middle School.

History

The school is accredited by the

New York State Department of Education The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the supervision for all public schools in New York and all standardized testing, as well as the production and administration ...

and the

Middle States Association The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atla ...

. The school is ranked the 96th best high school in the US according to Newsweek's Ranking of the top 500 high schools in the US as of 2015. Due to the abundance of garnets discovered during construction of the school, this precious gem became the adopted mascot.

Campus

The High School itself was built during the Great Depression, as part of a public works project aimed at giving people work. Rye High School is designed in the style of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...

, constructed with dark stones, small recessed windows, and sloping roofs. The High School is connected to Rye Middle School. Several Rye Middle School classes are hosted in the High School and about 1/3 of middle school students use the high school cafeteria at any given time, rotating every third of the school year. A $17 million initiative helped modernize the school by constructing a new science wing adjacent to the auxiliary gym on the north end of the campus. The new building contains twelve labs, workrooms, and numerous new facilities, among other things. The project was completed in 2015. The campus hosts a football stadium with an outdoor track and spots for field events to be conducted, a baseball/softball field, practice fields for various sports (including lacrosse, soccer, field hockey and cross country), a small brook separating the field from the rest of the school, parking lots, grassy fields, and a few trees.

Curriculum

A graduation requirement of 60 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

was implemented in 1989. Though not a curricular requirement, as much as 89 percent of the student body participates in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. During the month of May, the school essentially shuts down while AP's are administered to students. Afterwards, students receive a five-day break from classes for their efforts. Unlike many other high schools, AP World and AP European History is offered to students in the tenth grade, as opposed to only being offered in eleventh grade. This distinction allows students to essentially "try out" AP courses so they can gauge their ability to handle the heavy workload. At graduation, many students have taken at least one Advanced Placement course, with some students taking in upwards of fifteen of these courses. In addition, several honors courses and one college credit class are offered to students who wish to challenge themselves academically. Recently the school has adopted a new focus on STEAM courses. The most recent example is the addition of the AP Computer Principles course, which ran for the first time in the 2018–2019 school year.

Graduation requirements

In order to receive a diploma from Rye High School, a student must meet several criteria by the time of graduation. These include, but are not limited to: * Complete 60+ hours of community service * Have taken 3+ years of foreign language * Have taken a Participation in Government class * Have taken an Economics class * Have 4 or more English credits * Have 4 or more History credits * Have at least 1 Art credit * Have 3 or more Science credits * Have 3 or more Math credits

Athletics

Rye High School fields teams in baseball, softball, basketball, cheer-leading, cross country, crew, field hockey, football, rugby, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, sailing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. The football team has won 3 state championships including 2 in a row (2007, 2008), and the basketball team won its league with a 17–6 record in 2009 and went to the Westchester County Center. The sailing team won the state championship in 2017 and the region's team race championship.

Hazing

Rye High School students had an underground tradition, well known by students and alumni, known as "Freshman Friday." In mid-2012, three Rye High School students were charged with kidnapping three freshmen, taking them to a remote location and hazing them, with one student requiring hospital treatment. The school repeatedly denied any knowledge of the event, despite the fact that many teachers interviewed about the incident did admit that they had knowledge of the event well before the proceedings occurred. After several adjournments, in October 2012 the felony assault charges against the three students were reduced to misdemeanor counts of hazing and unlawful imprisonment, with subsequent proceedings closed.

Notable alumni

Alumni of Rye High School include:

References

External links

Rye High School
{{authority control Public high schools in Westchester County, New York Buildings and structures in Rye, New York